Sales record printer for gasoline pumps



Feb.. 11, 1969 J. J. FITZGERALD SALES RECORD PRINTER FOR GASOLINE PUMPS Filed Sept. 12, 1967 has for J E'zzg era fd Feb. 11, 1969 J. J. FITZGERALD SALES RECORD PRINTER FOR GASOLINE PUMPS Filed Sept. 12,-19e7 Imk mm II- 2 mm Q 5 nm/IIIIII m e 5 N\ .0 I I I n, f I I Q5 o I .3 Iwmr IQ\ e 9 m m a NWQ d 9 z t a a k Z a ktvi RM. 0 6 I WW. R x m m m I E @I I I n m .II mm W E I j I, h j .0 III a g m QQ I3 I I l l II I I v R R WW N. \Q Q N V VV\ HU/ ,v/Iv EH/l/l/ I I II 1 I l I. m /Hr L III I III. I Q Q Q 1 .al A3 h I\\ WI r I I III! ||++l| I lllll III I l I I II I IA I Q I u lv 'l H H I I I I ll I II I I II\ Feb. 11, 1969 J. J. FITZGERALD 3,426,943

SALES RECORD PRINTER FOR GASOLINE PUMPS Filed Sept. 12, 1967 Sheet of5 \n q :r

a, g M 9 W *i Q v 5 ya g W g5 .49 tic/nay United States Patent 3,426,943 SALES RECORD PRINTER FOR GASOLINE PUMPS John J. Fitzgerald, 2120 Roselin Place, Los Angeles, Calif. 90039 Filed Sept. 12, 1967, Ser. No. 667,123 US. Cl. 22230 10 Claims Int. Cl. B67d 5/24, 5/38, 5/44 ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE In combination, a gasoline dispensing pump having a pump-driven co-mputor with a plurality of rotary drums, each with a predetermined number of circumferentially spaced visually readable characters and adapted to indicate the volume and the cost of each sale of gasoline dispensed by the pump, and a printing mechanism attachment operatively related to the computer to print the volume and cost of each sale indicated by the drums on a sales slip form, said mechanism including a plurality of rotatable printing wheels, each related to one of the drums and having a number of circumferentially spaced character fonts equal to and in corresponding circumferential sequence with the characters on the drum, means between each related wheel and drum to set the wheel in a predetermined rotative position of the drum and including, setting means including a rotatable cam plate with circumferentially and radial spaced, radially outwardly disposed stop lands corresponding in number with the number of printing faces of the related drum and wheel, a pinion gear adjacent to and connected with the wheel, an elongate, axially shiftable rod with racks engaging the pinion gear and an end opposing and engageable with the lands, a driven gear adjacent and connected with the cam plate, a drive gear at and connected with the drum, a drive pinion engaging the drive gear and an elongate flexible drive cable fixed to and extending between the drive and driven pinions whereby the cam plate is rotated synchronously with the drum and a platen to engage and support the form and shiftable into and out of engagement with the wheels.

Throughout the nation there are a great number of automotive gas and/or service stations, most of which have a plurality of gasoline pumps. Such pumps have become substantially standardized and each is provided with a calculator which, by means of a plurality of visible calibrated wheels or drums, indicates the price per gallon of the gasoline handled by the pump and indicates the gallonage and the cost of each sale of gasoline dispensed by said pump.

Upon each sale of gasoline from a particular pump, the service station attendant reads the cost of the sale and requests payment. When making such cash sales, the purchaser frequently requests a sales receipt in order to keep a record of the purchase. Accordingly, the station must be equipped with a convenient and readily accessible cash register with a record tape and the attendant must go to such register, ring up the sale and provide the purchaser with the sales slip or tape.

In the case of those stations which are not equipped with cash registers, the attendant must write out a sales receipt. This is usually written on those two-piece sales forms provided for credit card sales and which are normally kept in supply in close proximity to the pumps.

Ordinarily, a simple key-operated cash box with a supply of sales forms is provided in close, if not intimate proximity to each pump or group of pumps.

It will be apparent that the manner and procedure of making cash sales of gasoline, as above noted, leaves much to be desired.

In the case of credit-card sales, which far exceed cash sales in many areas of the country, the same procedure is followed, except the purchaser gives a credit card to the attendant and the information on that card is imprinted on the sales-slip form by means of a credit-card press (one of which is usually provided at each cash box). In such sales, the customers copy of the manuallyfilled-out sales form serves as a receipt and a record for the customer. Unfortunately, transacting business in the above manner has proven to be unsatisfactory, as all too frequently atendants err in filling out the sales forms, either accidentally or intentionally. It is not unusual that a hired service-station attendant will maintain his own gas supply and oftentimes the gas supply of friends by shortchanging customers. This is easily done as customers frequently cannot see the reading on the gas pump from within their automobiles and cannot or do not wish to leave their automobiles for the purpose of checking the reading.

Further, the handwriting of the average service station attendant, when filling out sales forms of the character referred to, is so frequently illegible that the average purchaser of gasoline has tired of questioning the accuracy of such forms when presented, and simply accepts them without question.

The above, obviously, further simplifies the art of shortchanging customers.

Another shortcoming to the above current practices of selling gasoline resides in the fact that no record is automatically kept of the individual sales of gas pumped by particular pumps in those situations where a plurality of pumps are provided. Such a record would be of great value where, as in large service stations, particular pumps or spaced apart groups of pumps are under charge of particular attendants and the sales records of the attendants would be of value. Such records would also be of value in determining, with reasonable accuracy, such factors as the direction of flow of trafiic into and out of a service station and many other factors, such as the effectiveness of road signs and other advertising.

Still further, there is no record, under present practices, to determine the time of sales or the time period during which sales are made, which information would be of great value in planning and carrying out practices for most efficient and most effective merchandising.

An object of my invention is to provide a sales-record printer for gasoline pumps which is operatively related to the computor means of a standard or conventional pump construction and which is such that it clearly and accurately prints all desired and pertinent information of each sale of product from a gas pump on a common sales slip or form.

Another object of my invention is to provide a means of the character referred to which is operatively related to the visible number wheels or drums of the computor of a gasoline pump and which faithfully prints the statistical information or data registered by the computer on a common sales form.

It is an object of my invention to provide a printing device of the character referred to, having a multiplicity of polygonal printing wheels and drive means between each printing wheel and a related calibrated drum of a gasoline pump computor, whereby the printing wheels are rotated in the same rotative positions as their related computer drums, when the construction is operated.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a printer of the character referred to which can be advantageously housed in a small, compact housing or case and advantageously fixed and related to the exterior of an existing gas-pump construction in a position convenient for use.

Still further, it is an object of this invention to provide a novel drive means between related computor drums and printing wheels, which includes gear parts or portions applied to or established on conventional computor drums, a driven gear engaged with each gear part or portion and rotatably carried by the computor construction, and a flexible drive cable driven by each driven gear and extending to the printer mechanism and to means therein to selectively drive and rotate the printing wheels, as required.

The above and other objects and features of my invention will be fully understood from the following detailed description of a typical preferred form and application of my invention, throughout which description reference is made to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is an isometric view of a gas pump with my invention related thereto;

FIG. 2 is an isometric view of a portion of a conventional gas-sales slip or form with sales information imprinted thereon;

FIG. 3 is a view taken as indicated by line 3-3 on FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a view taken as indicated by line 4-4 on FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken as indicated by line 55 on FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a view taken as indicated by line 66 on FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a view taken as indicated by line 7-7 on FIG. 5;

FIG. 8 is a view taken as indicated by line 8-8 on FIG. 5;

FIG. 9 is a view taken as indicated by line 9--9 on FIG. 8;

FIG. 10 is a view taken as indicated by line 10-10 on FIG. 5; and

FIG. 11 is a view taken substantially as indicated by line 11-11 on FIG. 5.

The ordinary or conventional gasoline pump construction, as illustrated in FIG. 1 of the drawings, is characterized by an elongate, vertical, rectangular box-like housing 10 with a fiat top 11, flat, vertical sides 12, and flat, vertical front and rear surfaces 13. A dispensing hose 14 with a nozzle 15 at its terminal end extends from one side of the housing and normally engaged on and supported by a manually operable control handle or lever 16. The lever 16 normally occurs in a rotative position Where the pump construction is shut off or put out of operation and where said lever presents a hook-like projection to engage and support the dispensing nozzle. When it is desired to put the pump into operation, the nozzle must be manually disengaged from the handle or lever 16 and the lever must be manually turned so as to put the pump into operation. When the operating or control lever 16 is thus turned, the nozzle engaging hook presented thereby is disposed so that said nozzle cannot be engaged and supported thereon. Such a relationship of parts prevents the pump from being inadvertently left in operation.

The ordinary pump construction such as is illustrated, includes a metering mechanism commonly referred to as the computor C. The computor C includes a plurality of calibrated wheels or drums 20 suitably grouped together and arranged in series to indicate the gallonage pumped during each sale, as indicated at 21, and the cost of each sale, as indicated at 22. The computor is driven by a flow-metering type of motor in a delivery pipe in the construction (not shown).

In addition to the above, the computor is provided with a group of secondary calibrated drums 23 which indicate the price of each gallon of gasoline and which are mechanically related to the drums 20 so that the cost indicated at 22 corresponds with the gallonage indicated at 21 following each sale.

The computor C is provided with a cancelling means, not shown, which means is suitably connected with the control handle or lever 16 and in such a manner that each time the handle is shifted from its normal position to its operating position and preparatory to the making of each new sale or delivery of gasoline, the drums 20 of the computor are returned to zero, and the previous sale indicated thereby is cancelled.

The computor C is arranged adjacent to the front wall 13 of the pump housing and in an opening 24 therein so that the information provided thereby can be easily and conveniently read.

In practice, the exact or particular means for driving the drums 20, the arrangement or dispositioning of the drums and the means relating the computor to the other means of the pump construction can vary widely without affecting the novelty of the present invention. Accordingly, I will not burden this disclosure with further unnecessary detailed description of the pump and/ or computor mechanism thereof.

The sales record printer -A that I provide is adapted to effectively and faithfully print the information provided by the computor C of a conventional gasoline pump on a conventional gasoline sales slip form F.

The ordinary sales slip or form F, as illustrated in FIG. 2 of the drawings, is a simple, small, rectangular paper laminate and includes a back sheet 25 of card stock, an intermediate carbon sheet 26, and a front tissue sheet 27. Space is provided on the form for recording of the product sold, the price of the product, the volume of said product sold and the cost of the sale. Space is also provided for other information, such as advertising and the like.

The carbon sheet 26 is disposable. The back sheet 25 is retained by the seller, and the tissue sheet is given to the purchaser for his records.

Forms of the character referred to above have become standardized in size and in general layout or character as they are designed for compatible use in and with credit cards and credit-card presses, which cards and presses have become standardized.

The printer A is a unitary device enclosed in and carried by a suitable case H and includes, generally, a carriage B shiftably engaged in and projecting from the case H, a printing head P within the case and carried by the carriage, a platen D shiftably carried by the carriage and adapted to support a form F and to transport said form into and out of engagement with the printing head P, setting means S to set the printing head P and coupling means E operatively connecting the means S with the computor C of the gasoline pump with which the construction is related.

'In addition to the foregoing, the printer A is provided with lock means I operatively connected with the control lever 16 of the pump and so that the printer cannot be operated until the pump has been put out of service and delivery of gasoline for a sale has been completed.

The case H is a simple, rectangular box-like structure of molded high-impact plastic or the like and has flat, horizontal top and bottom walls 30 and 31, vertical side walls 32 and vertical front and rear Walls 33 and 34. The front wall 33 is provided with an elongate transversely extending slot opening 35 across its lower portion to accommodate the carriage B.

The carriage B is an elongate, flat, horizontal pan-like structure formed of sheet metal and has a flat bottom wall 36, vertical side walls 37, and a vertical rear wall 38.

The upper edges of the side walls 37 have laterally outwardly projecting flanges 39, which flanges are slidably engaged in laterally inwardly opening, longitudinally extending grooves or ways 40 formed in the side walls 32 of the case H.

with laterally spaced, forwardly projecting support arms 41. The support arms 41 are simple extensions of the side walls 37. The arms 41 project forwardly through the opening in the front wall 33 of the case H.

In practice, and as illustrated, the arms 41 are provided with suitable sheet metal channel-like caps 42 to overlie their outer sides and the top, bottom and front edges thereof. The caps 42 serve to reinforce or stiffen the arms and enhance the esthetics of the construction.

The side walls 37 of the carriage have aligned, parallel, laterally inwardly opening primary cam slots 44, each with an upwardly inclined rear end portion and an elongate straight, horizontally extending forward portion '45.

The forward end portion of the side walls and the arms 41 continuing forwardly therefrom are provided with aligned, parallel, laterally inwardly opening secondary,

-shaped cam slots 46, each with a vertically extending rear portion 47 and an elongate horizontally extending forward portion 48.

The cam slots 44 and 46 are of equal longitudinal extent, and the rear ends of the secondary or forwardmost slots 46 are spaced forward of the forward ends of the rearmost or primary slots 44.

The printing head P includes a sheet-metal frame 49 with a fiat, horizontal bottom Wall 50, vertical front and rear walls 51 and 52 and side walls 53 projecting upwardly from the edges of the bottom wall, a central transversely extending slot-like opening or port 54 in the bottom wall, a shaft 55 fixed to and extending between the side walls in spaced relationship above the port 54 and a plurality of axially spaced, polygonal printing wheels 56, each with an axially aligned pinion gear 57 fixed to or formed integrally on one side thereof and rotatably carried by the shaft in predetermined axial position thereon.

The frame 49 is fixed to the carriage B to occur above said carriage and extend transversely thereof with the slot opening or port 54 therein positioned between the front and rear ends of the cam slots 44 and 46, respectively.

The frame 49 and carriage B are, as illustrated, joined and fixed together by means of upwardly projecting mounting flanges on the side walls of the carriage B, which flanges are spot-welded or otherwise suitably fixed to the side walls of the frame 49.

The polygonal printing wheels 56 have ten facets, each with a type face formed thereon.

The lowermost portion of the wheels 56 project into and through the port 54 in the bottom wall 50 of the frame so that the planes of the lowermost facets occur in a common horizontal plane and the type faces thereon occur a predetermined distance below the plane of the bottom surface of said bottom wall 50.

In the carrying out of the invention, an ink roller 58 may be rotatably carried by the frame above and in ink transferring contact with the wheels 56.

The platen D is a substantially flat, rectangular part formed or molded of high-impact plastic or the like and has flat top and bottom surfaces 60 and 61, straight parallel sides 62 and parallel, transversely extending front and rear ends 63 and 64.

The platen is slightly less in lateral extent than the distance between the side walls and arms of the carriage, and is provided with laterally, outwardly projecting primary cam pins 65 at its rear end. The pins 65 are engaged in the primary cam slots 44. The platen is further provided with laterally outwardly projecting secondary cam pins 66 at its forward end portion, which pins are engaged in the secondary cam slots 46 in the forward portion of the side walls and the arms of the carriage.

The top surface 60 of the platen is provided with a rectangular recess 67 to cooperatively receive and carry a sales-slip form F.

The cam pins 65 and 66 can, as illustrated, be established by the end portions of transversely extending metal rods, about which the platen is formed.

The platen normally occurs in a forward or unactuated position between the arms 41 and the forward end portions of the side walls of the carriage, with the cam pins stopped in the forward ends of their related cam slots. When the platen is thus arranged, its major portion and the recess 67 therein occur forward of the front wall 33 of the case H in a position where the recess is conveniently accessible for manual placement of a form slip F therein.

Further, the platen, when in its noted normal or unactuated position occurs in spaced relationship below the plane in which the lowermost facets of the printing wheels occur.

A spring means G is fixed to the bottom wall of the carriage to bear against the bottom 61 of the platen, below the printing wheels of the means P, to normally yieldingly urge the platen upwardly.

Upon manually pushing and urging the platen rearwar-dly in the carriage, and into the case H, through the opening 35, the rear end of the platen, when the primary cam pins 65 enter the inclined rear portions 45 of the cam slots 44, is elevated so that the rear end of the top surface 60 intersects the horizontal plane in which the lowermost facets of the printing wheels occur. When or as the pins 65 reach the rear ends of the slots 44, the secondary pins 66 enter the rear vertical portions 47 of the slots 46 and the spring means G drives the platen upwardly, about the pivotal axes of the pins 65 and into striking engagement with the printing wheels, effectively printing the information on the wheels onto and through the form F carried by the platen.

After the printing operation set forth above has taken place, the forward end 63 of the platen which still occurs forward of the front wall 33 of the case and is accessible, is manually engaged, depressed against the resistance of the spring means G to a point where the pins 65 are aligned with the portions 48 of the slots 46 and is drawn forwardly to its normal unactuated position, and where the form F can be removed.

In practice, the forward edge of the platen can be provided with a finger engaging lip or bead 68 to facilitate withdrawing the platen in the manner set forth above.

The spring means G can vary widely in practice and is shown as a simple longitudinally extending leaf spring 69 with its rear end suitably fixed to the bottom wall of the carriage, its front end rolled about a transversely extending axle rod 70 and a pair of laterally spaced, platen engaging rollers 71 engaged on the opposite ends of the ro The setting means S that I provide to set the wheels of the printing head in desired rotative position and in like rotative position with the calibrated drums of the means C of the gasoline pump includes a sheet metal frame 75 with a flat, horizontal bottom wall 76, fiat, vertical side walls 77 and a flat vertical front wall 78. The frame 75 1s arranged and fixed in the rear portion of the case H so that it occurs in predetermined spaced relationship from the rear end of the carriage when said carriage is in its normal or forward position.

The frame 75 carries a transversely extending primary shaft or axle member 80 between the side walls thereof and on which a plurality of axially spaced gear and cam units 81 are rotatably engaged.

A gear and cam unit 81 is provided for each of the drums 2t of the computer C which is to. be coupled with the pnntlng means P. Each unit 81 includes a simple flat gear 82 and a ten-land cam plate 83 fixed to or formed integrally on one side of the gear. Each of said units '81 is arranged on the shaft 80 so that the cam plate 83 thereof is in a common plane, longitudinally of the construction, with the gear 57 on or related to its related printing wheel 56 of the means P.

The frame 75 further includes or carries a plurality of transversely extending secondary shafts 84 arranged in circumferential spaced relationship about the axis of the shaft 80 and in predetermined spaced relationship radially outward of the gears 82. There is one shaft 84 provided for each gear 82. Each shaft is provided with and carries a pinion gear 85 to engage its related gear 82.

The ends of the shafts 84 project through and laterally outwardly from suitable bearings 86 provided in the side walls 77 of the frame 75.

The means S further includes an operating link or rod 88 between each cam plate 83 and its related gear 57 of the means P.

Each rod 88 has a straight central portion extending longitudinally between the frames 49 and 75 of the printing means P and setting means S, a straight, rear end portion with a cam engaging rear end 89 extending through a suitable guide opening 90 provided in the front wall 78 of the frame 75 and a front end portion extending longitudinally through the frame 49 of the printing means and through a guide slot 91 in the rear wall 52 and a guide opening 92 in the front wall 51 of the frame 49. The front end portion of each rod 88 projects freely between adjacent printing wheels 56, above the axes thereof and is provided with a rack 93 which engages the pinion gear 57 with which said rod is related.

The rear end of the rack establishes a stop which opposes and engages the front surface of the rear wall 52 of the frame 49 and which serves to stop rearward shifting of the rod in a predetermined rear, normal or unactuated position. On the central portion of each rod and spaced between the walls 52 and 78 of the frames 49 and 75 is provided a spring stop 95. A compression spring 96 is arranged about the rod and between the stop 95 and the rear surface of the rear wall 52 of the frame 49. The spring normally yieldingly urges the rod to its normal or unactuated position. The printing wheels 56 are rotated by their related racks 93 to that position where the digits zero occur at the bottoms of the wheels, when the rods 88 are in their normal unactuated positions.

The rods 88 are carried by the frame 49 of the printing means P, which frame is carried by the carriage B, which carriage, in turn, is shiftable carried by the case H.

The carriage B is normally positioned in the case H with its rear wall 38 in predetermined, spaced relationship forward of the front wall 78 of the frame 75 and is shift able rearwardly into stopped engagement with the wall 78 when the platen D and carriage B are shifted rearwardly in the manner set forth above.

A compression-spring means 97 is provided between the front wall 78 of the frame 75 and the rear Wall 52 of the frame 49 to normally yieldingly urge the carriage forward to its normal position. The carriage is stopped in its normal position when the forward ends (not shown) of the flanges 39 on the side walls 37 of the carriage engage suitably positioned ends (not shown) of the grooves or ways in the side walls of the case.

When the carriage B is in its normal forward position, the rear ends 89 of the rods 88 are spaced forward of and are clear of their related earns 83; when the carriage B is shifted rearwardly to its rearmost or actuated position, the rods are moved rearwardly so that their ends 89 engage their related cams.

The cams are stop-type cams with ten circumferentially and radially spaced lands 98, each land being spaced radially from its next adjacent lands a distance equal to the distance of travel of the rods and their racks 93 to effect 36 degrees or one-tenth of one revolution of the printing wheels 56.

The distance of travel of the carriage B is equal to the radial distance between the innermost and outermost lands of the cam plates plus the distance between the ends 89 of the rods and the outermost lands of the cam plates, when the carriage is in its forward or unactuated position.

The ways and flanges 39 and 40, the spring means G and the engagement of the cam pins in the cam slots and designed to afford greater resistance or drag than is afforded by the springs 96 and the spring 97 so that upon manual inward shifting of the platen, the carriage B moves to its fully actuated position, and the springs 96 can be fully compressed before the platen reaches its fully actuated position and so that shifting of the platen to its fully actuated position cannot take place prematurely.

As the carriage is moved from its forward position to its fully actuated position and the several cam plates are in varying rotative position, rearward movement of the rods 88 with the carriage is stopped by the lands of the cam plates disposed towards the ends 89 of the rods, and the carriage and printing means move forwardly relative to the stopped rods to effect forward movement of the rods relative to the printing head and resulting desired rotation of the printing wheels.

The coupling means E between the setting means S and the computor C of the gasoline pump includes a drive gear 100 related to each calibrated drum 20 of the means C, a driven pinion 101 engaged with each of the gears 100' and rotatably carried by the separate shaft 102 and a flexible drive cable 103 suitably fixed to and extending between each shaft 102 and a related shaft 84 of the means S.

The gears 100 can be formed integrally with the drums 20 or can be special ring or plate-type gears applied to existing drums, as circumstances require or as desired.

The shafts 102 can be rotatably carried by the means C in any suitable or desired manner.

The ends of the drive cables 103 are fixed to their related ends of their related shafts 84 and 102. by suitable couplers 104.

Since the details of the means E can vary widely in practice, without departing from the spirit of this invention, I will not burden this specification with further, detailed description of the particular form or embodiment of the invention illustrated in the drawings.

The gear ratios of the related gears 100-101 and 82-85 are alike, so that the cam plates 83 related to the gears 82 are rotated synchronously with the drums 20.

With this relationship of parts it will be apparent that as the drums 20 are rotated, by operation of the pump, the cam plates are rotated and that when the pump is stopped, stopping rotation of the drums 20 and the cam plates 83, and when the carriage B is subsequently shifted to its actuated position, the printing wheels 56 are rotated to positions corresponding to the rotative positions of their related drums 20. Further, it will be apparent that when the printing wheels are thus positioned and the platen is moved rearwardly to its fully actuated position, as set forth above, information presented by the drums 20 is effectively printed on the sales form F carried by the platen.

In practice, the case H can be mounted on and secured to any desired side or surface of the gasoline pump housing. The adjacent walls of the case and housing are provided with registering openings and 111 through which the drive cables 103 freely extend.

In the case illustrated, the case H is fixed to the top 11 of the pump housing and the openings 110 and 111 are provided in the bottom wall 31 of the case H and the top wall 11 of the pump housing.

In practice, and so that the construction cannot be operated when the pump is in operation in such a manner as might cause damage to the construction and/or computer C, I provide the lock means I.

The lock means I is shown as including an elongate, axially shiftable lock pin 115 suitably mounted in the case H and normally engaging the carriage D to prevent rearward movement thereof and an elongate push cable 116 fixed to the pin 115 and extending through the openings 110 and 111 and thence to a suitable link or lever (not shown) in the pump housing which is a part of the control means related to the control lever arm 16 of the pump. The cable 116 is connected with the lever arm Operated link or lever so that when the lever 16 is in its normal position and the pump is out of service, the

structure that I provide can be actuated, but otherwise prevents actuation of the structure.

Since the link and/ or lever means operated by the lever arm 16 can vary widely without affecting the novelty of the present invention, and since the particular manner in which the cable 116 is connected therewith does not affect the novelty of this invention, I have not illustrated the link and/or lever means related to the arm 116 or the connection of the cable 116 therewith.

In practice, it is contemplated that several special printing wheels 120 and one or more printing drums 121, which need not be driven and/or changed frequently, will be provided. These wheels and/or drums serve to print such information as the brand name of the product being handled by the pump, the number of the pump, the shift or time during which certain sales are made, and other like, desirable information.

The wheels 120 and the drum or drums 121 are engaged on the shaft 55 in the printing head P and, like the wheels 56, have gears 122 related thereto.

The gears 122 are engaged by simple, releasable latch means 123 to hold them in any desired rotative position.

In the case illustrated, the latch means 123 are simple, spring pawls fixed to the frame 49 and engaging the gears 122, as clearly illustrated in FIGS. and 6 of the drawings.

The case H is preferably provided with a pivoted lid section 125 to allow for easy access to the interior thereof and for the purpose of servicing the construction and for the purpose of manually setting the wheels 120 and drum 121, as desired. The lid section can be provided with suitable lock means to prevent unauthorized persons from tampering with the construction.

Having described only a typical preferred form and application of my invention, I do not wish to be limited to the specific details herein set forth, but wish to reserve to myself any modifications and/or variations that may appear to those skilled in the art and which fall within the scope of the following claims.

Having described my invention, I claim:

1. In combination, a gasoline dispensing pump having a pump-driven computor with a plurality of rotary drums, each with a predetermined number of circumferentially spaced visually readable characters and adapted to indicate the volume and the cost of each sale of gasoline dispensed by the pump, and a printing mechanism attachment operatively related to the computor to print the volume and cost of each sale indicated by the drums on a sales slip form, said mechanism including a plurality of rotatable printing wheels, each related to one of the drums and having a number of circumferentially spaced character fonts equal to and in corresponding circumferential sequence with the characters on the drum, means between each related wheel and drum to set the wheel in a predetermined rotative position of the drum and including, setting means including a rotatable cam plate with circumferentially and radial spaced, radially outwardly disposed stop lands corresponding in number with the number of printing faces of the related drum and wheel, a pinion gear adjacent to and connected with the wheel, an elongate, axially shiftable rod with racks engaging the pinion gear and an end opposing and engageable with the lands, a driven gear adjacent and connected with the cam plate, a drive gear at and connected with the drum, a drive pinion engaging the driven gear, a driven pinion engaging the drive gear and an elongate flexible drive cable fixed to and extending between the drive and driven pinions whereby the cam plate is rotated synchronously with the drum and a platen to engage and support the form and shiftable into and out of engagement with the wheels.

2. A structure as set forth in claim 1 wherein the printing wheels, rods and platen are carried by a carriage shiftably related to the cam plates whereby the rods are shiftable into and out of engagement with the cam plates as a group whereby the cam plates are rotatable independent of movement of the rods and wheels.

3. A structure as set forth in claim 1 wherein each rod is spring loaded and is normally yieldingly urged toward its related cam plate.

4. A structure as set forth in claim 1 wherein each rod is spring loaded and is normally yieldingly urged toward its related cam plate, the printing wheels, rods and platen being carried by a carriage shiftably related to the cam plates whereby the rods are shiftable into and out of engagement with the cam plates as a group whereby the cam plates are rotatable independent of movement of the rods and wheels, said racks rotating the wheels to a predetermined cancelled position when the rods are moved out of engagement with the cam plates.

5. A structure as set forth in claim 1 wherein the cam plates, driven gears, rods, wheels and plates are arranged in a case, said case is fixed to a wall of a housing about said pump and said flexible cables extend through registering openings in the case and housing, said case having a slot opening in a side thereof and in which said platen is shiftably arranged.

6. A structure as set forth in claim 1 wherein the cam plates, driven gears, rods, wheels and plates are arranged in a case, said case is fixed to a wall of a housing about said pump and said flexible cables extend through registering openings in the case and housing, said case having a slot opening in a side thereof and in which said platen is shiftably arranged, said cam plates and drive gears being carried by a frame fixed in the case, said wheels, rods and platen being carried by a carriage shiftably carried by the case and relative to said frame, each rod being spring loaded and normally yieldingly urged toward its related cam plate, the printing wheels, rods and platen being carried by a carriage shiftably related to the cam plates whereby the rods are shiftable into and out of engagement with the cam plates as a group whereby the cam plates are rotatable independent of movement of the rods and wheels, said racks rotating the wheels to a predetermined cancelled position when the rods are moved out of engagement with the cam plates.

7. A structure as set forth in claim 1 wherein the printing wheels, rods and platen are carried by a carriage shiftably related to the cam plates whereby the rods are shiftable into and out of engagement with the cam plates as a group whereby the cam plates are rotatable independent of movement of the rods and wheels, said pump including a manually operable control lever to put said pump into and out of operation and means related to the calculator to move the several drums to a predetermined cancelled position before each sale of gasoline, said mechanism including stop means to prevent shifting the carriage to engage the rods with the cam plates when the pump is in operation and including a stop pin shiftable into and out of engagement with the carriage and a flexible push-pull cable existing between the pin and a movable pump part connecting with the lever.

8. A structure as set forth in claim 1 wherein the printing wheels, rods and platen are carried by a carriage shiftably related to the cam plates whereby the rods are shiftable into and out of engagement with the cam plates as a group whereby the cam plates are rotatable independent of movement of the rods and wheels, said carriage being an elongate structure with front and rear ends and having spaced, parallel side walls with forwardly projecting extensive arms, laterally inwardly opening, longitudinally extending primary cam slots in the rear portions of the side walls and laterally inwardly opening longitudinally extending secondary cam slots in the forward end portions of said side walls and arms, said rear ends of the primary slots having rearwardly and upwardly inclined rear portions, said rear ends of the secondary slots having upwardly extending, vertical end portions, said platen being an elongate substantially horizontally disposed plate-like part having fiat top and bottom surfaces,

front and rear ends and parallel sides opposing the side walls and arms of the carriage, said platen having a formreceiving recess in its top surface, laterally outwardly projecting primary and secondary cam pins at its front and rear end portions engaged in the primary and secondary slots, respectively, said pins normally stopped in the forward ends of the slots and manually shiftable to the rear ends of the slots, said wheels arranged above the platen and above the recess in the platen when the platen is shifted to its rearmost position relative to the carriage, and spring means normally yieldingly urging the platen upwardly whereby the platen is urged into striking engagement with the wheels when the secondary pins enter the rear end portions of the secondary slots.

9. A structure as set forth in claim 1 wherein the printing wheels, rods and platen are carried by a carriage shiftably related to the cam plates whereby the rods are shiftable into and out of engagement with the cam plates as a group whereby the cam plates are rotatable independent of movement of the rods and wheels, said carriage being an elongate structure with front and rear ends and having spaced, parallel side walls with forwardly projecting extensive arms, laterally inwardly opening, longitudinally extending primary cam slots in the rear portions of the side walls and laterally inwardly opening longitudinally extending secondary cam slots in the forward end portions of said side walls and arms, said rear ends of the primary slots having rearwardly and upwardly inclined rear portions, said rear ends of the secondary slots having upwardly extending, vertical end portions, said platen being an elongate substantially horizontally disposed plate-like part having flat bottom and top surfaces, front and rear ends and parallel sides opposing the side walls and arms of the carriage, said platen having a form-receiving recess in its top surface, laterally outwardly projecting primary and secondary cam pins at its front and rear end portions engaged in the primary and secondary slots, respectively, said pins normally stopped in the forward ends of the slots and manually shiftable to the rear ends of the slots, said wheels arranged above the platen and above the recess in the platen when the platen is shifted to its rearmost position relative to the carriage, and spring means normally yieldingly urging the platen upwardly whereby the platen is urged into striking engagement with the wheels when the secondary pins enter the rear end portions of the secondary slots, each rod being spring loaded and normally yieldingly urged toward its related cam plate, said racks rotating the Wheels to a predetermined cancelled position when the rods are moved out of engagement with the cam plates, the cam plates, driven gears, rods, wheels and platen arranged in a case, said case being fixed to a wall of a housing about said pump and said flexible cables extending through registering openings in the case and housing, said case having a slot opening in a side thereof and in which said platen is arranged, said pump including a manually operable control lever to put said pump into and out of operation and means related to the calculator to move the several drums to a predetermined cancelled position before each sale of gasoline, said mechanism including stop means to prevent shifting the carriage to engage the rods with the cam plates when the pump is in operation and including a stop pin shiftable into and out of engagement with the carriage and a flexible push-pull cable existing between the pin and a movable pump part connecting with the lever.

10. In combination, a gasoline dispensing pump having a pump-driven computor with a plurality of rotary drums, each with a predetermined number of circumferentially spaced visually readable characters and adapted to indicate the volume and the cost of each sale of gasoline dispensed by the pump, and a printing mechanism attachment operatively related to the computor to print the volume and cost of each sale indicated by the drums on a sales slip form, said mechanism including a plurality of rotatable printing wheels, each related to one of the drums and having a number of circumferentially spaced character fonts equal to and in corresponding circumferential sequence with the characters on the drum, means between each related wheel and drum to set the wheel in a predetermined rotative position of the drum and including, setting means including a rotatable cam plate with circumferentially and radial spaced, radially outwardly disposed stop lands corresponding in number with the number of printing faces of the related drum and wheel, a pinion gear adjacent to and connected with the wheel, an elongate, axially shiftable rod with racks engaging the pinion gear and an end opposing and engageable with the lands, a driven gear adjacent and connected with the cam plate, a drive pinion engaging the driven gear and means operatively connecting the drive pinion and drum.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,293,333 8/1942 Eickmeyer et a1.

2,3 60,273 10/ 1944 Pritchard 222-30 X 2,612,428 9/ 1952 Vroorn 222-30 X 2,977,045 3/ 1961 Pandozy 222-30 X 3,053,415 9/1962 Pennington 222P-30 3,188,646 6/1965 Davis 222-30 X SAMUEL F. COLEMAN, Primary Examiner. 

